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» Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE   » Operations   » Film Handlers' Forum   » Hey you, you suck! (AKA: Outing bad film handlers) (Page 6)

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Author Topic: Hey you, you suck! (AKA: Outing bad film handlers) Scott Norwood Film God Posts: 8146 From: Boston, MA. USA (1774.21 miles northeast of Dallas) Registered: Jun 99 posted 11-08-2002 09:53 AM                        Thanks, Matthew; let me know what they say. It's entirely possible that someone else caused the damage, but I'm inclined to doubt it, as the print didn't appear to have visited multiple theatres. (This is Landmark, right? I often work on Thursdays at the Waltham cinema where, for the most part, presentation quality is very good.)  |  IP: Logged Carl Martin Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1424 From: Oakland, CA, USA Registered: Feb 2002 posted 11-12-2002 08:14 AM                        the last kiss played the 4 star in s.f. starting october 23. i saw it at the embarcadero prior to that (don't know when exactly; can't find my stub) and there were no scratches. if the 4 star got the same print that would exonerate the embarcadero of breakdown malpractice, although not necessarily of the scratching. but i have been to the embarcadero many times and never seen anything major wrong with the presentation. the one time i went to the 4 star the shutter was horribly mistimed and they had 6 shows a day on the (really really tiny) screen with 5-minute intermissions. i'm guessing one of those 5-minute threads scratched the print. if i'm right about this it's just a further indication that it's really not that easy to figure out where to point the finger when a print gets mistreated. i should note that my girlfriend works booth at the embarcadero, and i also work for landmark. i'll ask her if she knows anything more. she doesn't do buildup/breakdown though. carl  |  IP: Logged Bill Gabel Film God Posts: 3873 From: Technicolor / Postworks NY, USA Registered: Jan 2002 posted 11-19-2002 11:39 AM                     Just got a print of "Equilibrium", that TES circuited from AMC's Veterans 24 in Tampa, Florida. Who ever handled that print gets the YOU SUCK award for today. They reattached the heads & tails with masking tape & cut extra ID frames. Someone before you cut one frame which was good, but why cut extra frames. Also the poor use of Zebra tape. The yellow goes on the frame line not in the picture area.  |  IP: Logged Mike Williams Master Film Handler Posts: 255 From: Knoxville, TN Registered: Feb 2002 posted 11-19-2002 12:05 PM                     Speaking of prints circuited from an AMC... have you ever gotten a print with the heads and tails STAPLED onto each reel? (Amazingly enough, in Florida also)  |  IP: Logged Bill Gabel Film God Posts: 3873 From: Technicolor / Postworks NY, USA Registered: Jan 2002 posted 11-19-2002 12:46 PM                     No, I never got a stapled print before thats a new one.  |  IP: Logged Bruce McGee Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1776 From: Asheville, NC USA... Nowhere in Particular. Registered: Aug 1999 posted 11-19-2002 02:55 PM                     About 3 years ago, I was inspecting an OLD print that had an old rusty staple holding the 2 pieces together. It was in the middle of the reel, and I felt something unusual about ten turns of the reel before it hit me. I had begun to slow the rewinds down when the staple tore through my index finger on my right hand. It jabbed a nasty gash at the first knuckle. OUCH! Took forever to heal up. I'd love to know who did this...10-12 years ago....  |  IP: Logged Frank Angel Film God Posts: 5305 From: Brooklyn NY USA Registered: Dec 1999 posted 11-20-2002 01:27 AM                        Bruce, ouch, that's gotta hurt. Not to worry though, I got a print, also a classic many years old, which had splice made with -- I kid you not -- a bandaid. Evidently these two prints were destined to run as double features -- you tear a gash in your hand prepping one print, but then you get the bandaid for it with the next print! Could these "projectionists" have been any more thoughtful?!  |  IP: Logged Brad Miller Administrator Posts: 17775 From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall) Registered: May 99 posted 11-20-2002 06:02 AM                     Was it an "ouchless" bandaid?  |  IP: Logged Joe Beres Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 606 From: Minneapolis, MN, USA Registered: Nov 2000 posted 11-20-2002 04:21 PM                     Now I thought Technicolor was bad, but this one takes the cake. I just received a film that will be shown on Friday night. It came from B3 Projects in London. It is a 5 reel film, and it was shipped in two of the standard metal, octagonal containers. However, it was shipped loose on cores in the cans! The reels in the two reel can came out OK, but the one of the reels in the three reel can was a bit of a problem. The first 200 feet or so of the reel came loose and was knotted on the bottom of the can and around the two other reels. I'm sure all of the reels will show damage from being shipped like this, but the one reel will undoubtedly be scratched to hell if not worse. I am not looking forward to my inspection and , most likely, extensive repair work.. There is no excuse for shipping a film out like that, I don't care if you receive it as such, just figure out a way to pack it safely. It wouldn't have been dificult. I assume that at some point in this print's history, it was on reels. WHo the hell would take the reels and ship the thing out on cores like that. Ridiculous!  |  IP: Logged Chris Markiewicz Expert Film Handler Posts: 209 From: Glenaviegh, County Tipperary, Ireland Registered: Aug 2002 posted 11-20-2002 04:26 PM                     While running Hawaii International Film Festival showings a few years ago, I got in a print with small pieces of sheet steel taped to the tails of each reel, two per reel at the changeover marks. Were they for an automated changeover? As I remember, the print came from Asia.  |  IP: Logged Bill Gabel Film God Posts: 3873 From: Technicolor / Postworks NY, USA Registered: Jan 2002 posted 11-20-2002 05:04 PM                     When I ran the AFM in Los Angeles. I would get a few films from Europe with the same little pieces of metal or a small metal rod. Once I got a print on cardboard cores.  |  IP: Logged Mike Blakesley Film God Posts: 12767 From: Forsyth, Montana Registered: Jun 99 posted 11-20-2002 08:24 PM                        Before I was actually in the movie biz, I used to help out in the booth of our local (now defunct) drive-in, where a friend of mine worked. His parents owned it. This was back in the days of cement splices, and toward the end of the season they would invariably run out of cement, and not want to buy more and watch it dry up during the winter, so toward the end of the season, if he was rewinding a reel for ship-out and had a film break, he would make splices with anything he had handy, including scotch tape, masking tape, and yes, staples. This was when platters were still pretty new technology and completely unheard of in smaller towns. Accordingly, 99% of prints were received in "playable" condition, so it was relatively rare that they had to make splices. Thankfully, my friend is now a truck driver.  |  IP: Logged John Pytlak Film God Posts: 9987 From: Rochester, NY 14650-1922 Registered: Jan 2000 posted 11-20-2002 08:35 PM                        "Home brew" splicing cement was not uncommon. Dissolving some film in acetone/methylene chloride could make a pretty decent cement that worked okay with the old Griswold cold splicers and triacetate prints. I heard an "urban legend" that a long-gone Kodak lab technician had a home business of making and selling splicing cement. AFAIK, he had bought a load of scrap nitrate film base from the old DuPont film plant in Rochester, and dissolved it in 55-gallon drums of solvent, and sold it as splicing cement in 1-pint metal containers. Reportedly the cement worked quite well, even for splicing camera original. I heard he had to drop out of the business when the cost of meeting environmental and shipping (flammable solvents) regulations became prohibitive.  |  IP: Logged Matthew Bailey Master Film Handler Posts: 461 From: Port Arthur,TX Registered: Sep 2000 posted 11-20-2002 09:25 PM                     What kind of solvent did he dissolve the nitrate in? Nitric acid?  |  IP: Logged John Pytlak Film God Posts: 9987 From: Rochester, NY 14650-1922 Registered: Jan 2000 posted 11-20-2002 09:37 PM                        NOT Nitric Acid!!! (May go ka-boom!) Likely acetone or methylene chloride.  |  IP: Logged

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